Tjen held Adolph Hitler's hand while I explained why we had come. The group of us all were clustered into the living room that made up the center of the apartment that was set above the coffee shop that Hitler and his wife ran. Yalen leaned against the wall, while Darren and Drusilla took up the side of the table. I and Tjen sat next to one another, while Hitler and Saanvi took up the last third. Saanvi held her husband's other hand in both of hers and looked concerned.
Tjen was showing Adolph why we had come. His future, as seen by her.
Once she had finished and released his hand, the young man slowly wobbled where he sat.
"I think I'm going to be sick," he whispered.
Then was.
All things considered, I think he was taking it well.
Saanvi wiped up the mess as Adolph wiped his mouth and all of us exclaimed in surprise. But he held up his hand, silencing us. "I won't," he said, his voice a harsh rasp. "I won't! I mean, I won't even go to the painting academy, I'll rip my novel up, I don't care what it is, I won't do it."
Saanvi cried out. "Not your opus!"
"I doubt you writing a book is going to impact you-" Darren started, but Drusilla shushed her and shook her head.
"Listen, Mr. Hitler- Adolph. May I call you Adolph?" I asked. He nodded, mutely. "We've already changed the future. I mean, you, already changed the future. Right, Tjen?" I looked at her, then at him. "I mean, from her description, I expected you to be in the army. Not, not, not..." I gestured around myself at the shop, at the quiet evidence of a life well lived. There were photos, a mixture of grainy black and whites with the stern stance and calm faces that human style photography required, and the shining three dimensional holographic pictures that had become more and more common as time went on. Adolph and his wife had been making enough money to not only keep their shop running. They had also taken a few vacations. There were images of him standing in a city I swore was Istanbul, with Saanvi and several other people who looked very similar to her. Extended family, I was sure.
"Well, of course I'm not in the army," Adolph said, smiling. "You need to be a citizen for that, yes?"
"You are not a citizen of this nation state?" Tjen asked. "Oh, forgive me, I mean, you are not a citizen of this autocratic empire?"
Saanvi shook her head. "Dolphy and I are both residents. His family fled Vienna when the Great War was early. He came to the same refugee camp in Greece I did." She smiled, shyly. "That is how we met."
"I had never met anyone like Saanvi before," Adolph said, quietly. He squeezed his wife's hands. "In fact, I had never imagined there were so many kinds of people before I came to that camp. It was miserable, and there were so many villains and wicked men, but there were many great and good people. Jews, Arabs, even Indians." He nodded to his wife. "it seemed like everything that could float was being put to the Mediterranean in those days. But by the time Vienna was reconquered and resettled, my citizenship papers were lost, the records were lost -- my parents were dead..." He shrugged. "I returned with Saanvi, and we made our lives here, best as we could. I know if I hadn't married her, I'd likely be a citizen again by now, but..."
We all nodded. Similar stories came from every continent of the world. Why, I had faint memories of being bundled aboard a steamer and sailing away from London as black fog roiled over it. Faint, confused memories. I shook my head slightly and instead focused on the question that was bothering me. If...if Adolph had been changed from his youth, pushed into the company of the very kinds of people he would have massacred in the future...then...
What kind of foreseeing was that?
"Tjen, how-" I turned to look at her, but she was thinking along with me.
"I fear I do not know how my foretelling was so disastrously wrong," she said, pursing her lips.
"Well," Saanvi said, cheerful and clearly eager to put this behind her. "This does mean you can go home, yes?"
"No, but, we can leave you alone," I said, starting to stand. "We've brought some danger just by being here. There are some..." I paused. "Do you hear that?"
Adolph frowned. He stood and walked to the window, then opened the curtains. He looked out at the street, then exclaimed. "
Scheisse!"
He snarled, then stepped backwards. "House Guard!"
I hurried over and saw the House Guard were men in exoskeleton armor. But unlike the blue painted, mostly open uniforms of the police back in the United States, these fellows were clearly kitted for war. Their armor was painted dark gray, with red highlights on their heavy shoulder pads. They carried heavy machine guns, save for the one who toted what appeared to be a man-portable heat-ray. Behind them was a short, squad, walking tank. Not quite as mobile and fast as a tripod, it was more like a beetle with armor slats and a cannon set atop it. Cheaper. Slower. But just as seriously dangerous.
Before I could respond, the first of the House Guard kicked in the front door of the coffee shop. Enhanced by exoskeletal strength, the impact sent the door flipping inwards in a spray of splinters. I sprang backwards and looked back at the rest of the group. Yalen had leaped to the door and was grabbing onto the refrigerator in the kitchen. She hefted it up with her great strength and pressed it to the door leading to the stairs.
"We should flee-" she started.
"Back door!" Darren sprang up. "Fire exit!"
"Yes, right, don't worry, Mr. Hitler, Mrs. Hitler," I said, turning to face the two of them. "Just tell them we holding you up and-"
The refrigerator rocked forward as another exoskeleton powered kick was dealt out. The sounds of shouting voices were coming from the hallway and outside as well -- expected shouts: Throw down your weapons! Hands up! Hands on your heads! Now! Tjen was rushing for the door leading to the back of the second story, and I scrambled after her. The refrigerator was knocked down with a rattling crash, and behind me, a House Guard soldier was shouldering his way through the splintered ruins of the door. I spared one glance, and saw -- to my horror -- that Adolph and Saanvi were being manhandled to the floor.
Then I was at the back window. At the fire escape.
I skidded down and turned to find Yalen, Tjen, Drusilla and Darren standing with their hands lifted above their heads.
At the end of the alleyway stood two House Guard with machine guns, flanking Mr. Sinclair. He was dressed in a fine suit and held a pistol in one hand. Next to him was a man whose fierce mustache and flat topped cap screamed 'officer,' if the sleek field gray uniform didn't manage that. The man had a small saber strapped to his hip, but he didn't have it drawn.
"Did notting I tolds us?" Mr. Sinclair said, his Austrian nearly unintelligibly bad. "They being never of education."
***
The armored vehicle that we were bundled into was flat and boxy and used anti-gravity nacelles to suspend themselves above the ground. The insides were dark and had room for a single House Guard seated at the front to watch the prisoners put into them. I, Tjen and Ollie were shoved into one truck, while the Hitlers and Yalen were put into a second. I couldn't see it, but I was sure that Drusilla and Darren were put into their own. The interior of the trucks were spartan, with nothing but seats and thin slit windows let only a bit of light and air in. We were sat down with our hands and our feet chained up.
The trucks started moving shortly later, and I was sure that we were puttering out of Vienna. I had no idea how high we flew, nor how fast, but the gentle pressure of momentum made me think we were going fairly swiftly, though it took us some time to get to max speed. There was no bobbing or shaking, no rattling, no jouncing. An advantage of anti-gravity rather than spider-legs.
"Tjen, I-"
"Quiet," the guard snapped.
And so, we were quiet.
But that didn't mean we weren't talking. I pressed my leg against Tjen and thought as hard as I could:
Can you hear this?
I can,
she sent back, then smiled at me grimly.
